Thursday, 27 May 2010

Jafar Panahi released

I've written before here about the Iranian director Jafar Panahi, and the fact that he was arrested by the Iranian authorities. Now he seems to have been released, after three months in prison. Here's a link to an article about it in the New York Times.

I've actually met Panahi once, a couple of years ago when he was visiting Sweden. He expressed his surprise that anybody in such an exotic country would be interested in Iranian films, and his films. But they're very good, so why shouldn't we like them? From The White Balloon(Badkonake sefid 1995) to Offside (2006), with perhaps The Circle(Dayereh 2000) being the most famous here.

It's good he has been released, but he should never have been arrested in the first place, and so many others are still looked up.

1 comment:

I was actually surprised when I read about Panahi's arrest a few days ago. I am a fan of Iranian Cinema, particularly Abbas Kiarostami. Leave me stranded on a desert island and I'd do a marathon of Kiarostami's films! ;-> I loved Panahi's "White Balloon" which was written by Kiarostami.

With his arrest though, I have always thought that day would come, which is too bad.

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Some words about me

I have a Ph.D. in film history from the University of St Andrews. The thesis was about Swedish cinema in the 1940s, with a focus on the great but unknown Swedish filmmaker Hasse Ekman, who was Bergman's rival in the 1940s and early 50s. I also got an M.A. in History of Ideas.

Previously I have been working at the Swedish Film Institute, and at the Ingmar Bergman Archives, among other things going through all of Bergman's personal correspondence. I have also been working as Ingmar Bergman coordinator, organizing Bergman festivals all over the world. Now I work at the library at the Swedish Film Institute.I also give talks and lectures on Bergman, Ekman and film history in general. I write regularly for different film journals, such as Filmrutan and La Furia Umana(where I am on the editorial board). I have contributed to some edited collections and I have also written articles and reviews for Frames Cinema Journal, which I was the founding editor off.